JOHNSON, FALCONS FOOT THE BILL WITH VICK ON SIDELINE

IRVING - The Falcons aren't winning any Super Bowls without Michael Vick, but they took a big step toward getting there by winning their first game without him yesterday. Doug Johnson rallied the Falcon offense in the second half as Atlanta opened with a win over the Cowboys. Vick, who was in a wheelchair on the Falcon sideline before the game and watched the game from the coaches' box, is out for a minimum four games, probably longer. Except for the Bucs in two weeks, the immediate schedule isn't that tough, with games against the Redskins and Panthers sandwiched around Tampa Bay. "I'm going to get better every game," said Johnson who finished 16-for-27 for 228 yards with two TDs and one INT. "Things happen in games that you can't learn in practice and you just have to go with it and learn.

" One of those things was almost disastrous. Johnson went down hard while being tackled from behind, jamming his knee into the FieldTurf. He remained on the ground kneeling for several anxious moments before getting up. "It was like a stubbed toe," he said. The Falcons lost WR Brian Finneran with two broken bones in his hand earlier in the game and he will be out for six weeks. Before turning it around in the second half, Johnson was pretty comparable to Dallas' Quincy Carter in the first, when he went 4-for-15. But the Falcons began to run the ball better in the second half and that opened up plays for Johnson, who threw TD passes to RB Warrick Dunn and TE Alge Crumpler. "Doug Johnson made some very good decisions and we will learn from this. It definitely was a step in the right direction," said head coach Dan Reeves, who beat Bill Parcells for the first time in six meetings, including Super Bowl XXI. "It's nice to start the season 1-0 when everyone thought we couldn't. I think my players are more confident with Doug now.

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" The Falcons are hoping to make that their battle cry. "It's ridiculous how expectations have changed because we lost one guy," said linebacker Keith Brooking. "It (ticks) me off. I think we can use that.

" "A lot of people aren't impressed by the Atlanta Falcons right now, but who cares about that?

" Dunn said. "We can win without Mike. Without Mike, we may be a more balanced offense.

" Cornerback Ray Buchanan said that, from the Falcons' perspective, the game had nothing to do with beating Parcells. "We were not playing Bill Parcells . . . our backs were up against the wall and our team showed up. Tonight we had a little something to prove to ourselves.